Birmingham not for sale - Yeung

Birmingham City president Carson Yeung has told former QPR chairman Gianni Paladini he is wasting his time trying to purchase the Championship club.

Yeung's statement said no agreement with Paladini was in place.

Birmingham's parent company, Birmingham International Holdings Limited (BIHL), issued a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to clarify the situation following claims from Paladini that he had an agreement to buy the Blues for 20 million pounds.

The statement, signed by BIHL chairman Yeung, who is currently giving evidence in his trial for alleged money-laundering, said there was no agreement in place and Birmingham were not for sale.

"Reference is made to certain press articles recently published by a number of news providers in relation to the possible takeover or acquisition of Birmingham City Football Club," the statement said.

"The board wishes to clarify that no written agreement has been reached or signed with any party in relation to the disposal of all or parts of the company's equity interest in Birmingham City Plc and/or Birmingham City Football Club, and that, as at the date of this announcement, the company has no immediate plans to dispose of a controlling equity interest in BCP and/or BCFC."

BIHL had to go public because of Stock Market regulations, and the development will anger Paladini, who had claimed that Peter Pannu, BIHL's managing director and chief executive officer, had signed an agreement to sell Birmingham.

Paladini said Pannu was then supposed to put the deal to Yeung and get back to him but, after a fortnight, he had heard nothing and went public about his attempt to purchase the club.

Pannu issued a statement in which he neither confirmed nor denied that he had signed any documents.

The statement described Paladini's comments as "misleading and unhelpful", while Paladini claimed he was ready to speak to Yeung direct about his takeover attempt and would be prepared to fly to Hong Hong for talks at any time.